


The Boy Who Cried Wolf

by VANITASAURUS



Series: CC Wasted Teen AU [1]
Category: Camp Camp (Web Series)
Genre: Aged-Up Character(s), Alternate Timelines, Angst, CC Wasted Teen AU, Canon Universe, Drug Addiction, F/M, Implied/Referenced Drug Use, M/M, Slow Burn
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-12-18
Updated: 2018-06-01
Packaged: 2019-02-16 15:03:00
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 5,279
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13056414
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/VANITASAURUS/pseuds/VANITASAURUS
Summary: "He isn't coming back"Staring out into the forest, Max realized:This was the one prank that went too far.This was the time he fucked up.Badly.





	1. prelude

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> so yeah here's my attempt of writing a somewhat ff for me and neriseyk's wasted teen au. please have mercy with me i've never wrote a fic in my entire life and did this for fun so... ENJOY (?) THE INTRO! english is my second language btw

“He touched me in weird places and told me to call him names....”

 

“Is that true?”

 

“What? No! I’d nev-”

 

Even before the red-haired counselor could finish his sentence he was cut off by the strong grip of an agent, pulling his arms together behind his back.

 

“The usual denial. Explain this to the judge.”

 

Hearing the clicking of the handcuffs David’s eyes widened in disbelief as he stared at the young boy in the blue hoodie. He was standing there, sniffling in his sleeve while holding on to the other man in black. He didn’t understand what was going on. He didn’t understand any of this.

 

“Sir, please! This is just a big misunderstanding!”, a female voice tried to object.

 

“You’re in this too?”, the man replied, eying the co-counselor suspiciously.

 

“No! Please listen-”

 

“It’s okay, Gwen.”, David interrupted her, his voice accompanied by the sound of defeat. “I will be fine.”  
His lips curled up into a smile as the agents threw him into the back of the black van. It was a light smile. A smile that wanted to tell his co-counselor: “Everything will be alright”. But his eyes clearly said that he didn’t know what to do. He looked helpless. The ocean green pupils reflected a sadness as one of the agents threw the door shut.

 

The engine of the vehicle started and the more it distanced itself from the camp, the more the place was filled with silence.

 

Until a loud laughter broke it.

 

“AHAHAHAHAHAAHAHAHA, THEY FUCKING BELIEVED ME!! FUCKING MORONS!”, a boy cried out. Said boy who was sobbing just a few moments ago into his sleeve was now lying on the floor, gasping for air as he laughed his lungs out. “David’s gone, fucking finally!”, for a moment he thought he was about to choke on his own spit.

 

“Congratulations, Max.”, Gwen interrupted his good time. “You did it.”, her voice monotone and emotionless. Max looked up to her in slight confusion, she wasn’t looking at him. Her eyes were unfocused, just staring into an empty space.

 

“You know he isn’t coming back, right?”

 

It took a moment until realization hit Max. His eyes widened as he just whispered a small “what?” when Gwen passed him. Mountain meadow eyes hushed back to the long road in front of him that lead to the camp and back to town. He was staring like he was trying to pin the track, the words of the co-counselor repeating in his mind.

 

_He isn’t coming back._

 

The black haired boy could feel an emptiness crawling up inside of him, waves coming over and washing everything inside of him away. His heartbeat slowed down, it beat heavily like it was trying to push up weights with each hit. His chest started to feel hollow.

 

_No..._

 

With every moment that passed and he was sitting there in the dirt, staring out into the forest, he realized:

 

This was the one prank that went too far.

 

This was the time he fucked up.

 

Badly.

 

\--

 

With a loud gasp Max opened his eyes. It took him a moment to figure out where he was. It was dark and only some light breaking through the shutters on his left gave the room some shape. Green pupils were shaking like his breath, trying to pinpoint different parts of his surrounding.

 

One window on his left, stained and ripped wallpaper, his underground just a simple mattress lying on the floor. This wasn’t Camp Campbell. This was his shabby one room apartment.  

 

Figuring that out didn’t let him rest tho. His body was still shaking, his heart was racing and he was sweaty like he just ran a marathon. Shit, it has been almost 9 years and yet this event kept coming back at him. He wished it was just a dream. A stupid nightmare. But it wasn’t.

 

He needed to calm down. Quickly. Before the flood came and took him away again. The young man crawled to get up on his legs, almost tripping and falling by doing so. His body wasn’t fully awake yet, he could feel it but it didn’t keep him from stumbling over to the couch nearby as fast as possible.

 

Grabbing a metallic case lying on the small couch table in a hurry, just to figure out the box was empty. The fact let Max spit a short “Fuck.” to himself. God why didn’t he roll more jollies beforehand, he knew he should have.

 

Shaking hands grabbed the transparent plastic bag with the dried flower buds on the messy table, throwing some into the grinder before reaching out for some papes. “Shit, shit, shit, shit.”, the black haired teen rumbled like a mantra as he almost dropped the cylindrical device. Wishing his fucking hands would hold still for just a moment so he could roll this damn bud.

 

He could feel the frustration inside of him growing, mixing up with anger. A touch of self-hate. A poisonous combination, especially when being sober. He knew.

 

“You’re sooooooo noisy~”

 

A female voice caught his attention and almost let Max drop his finished work.

 

_Fuck._

 

He forgot about that. The tanned young man didn’t have to do much thinking, he knew who this voice belonged to. Or more like he didn’t. Because he didn’t know her name. And he didn’t care. It was just one of those girls he ended up taking home for some fun time as usual. But having her here now was the worst timing possible.

 

His body stiffened, he couldn’t deal with anyone right now. Not in this state. His stomach was turning, the flood was coming. He knew. He had to get rid of her. Now.

 

Gritting his teeth Max put the joint on the table and got up. Hesitated for a moment as he figured something was missing. Turning around again, grabbing his boxers from the couch,  pulling them over to cover the necessary. Not that he needed it. But telling someone to fuck off and leave your flat certainly worked better without your weiner hanging around in the wild.

 

The raven-haired grabbed the red dress that was lying around on the floor as he walked over to the shabby mattress.

 

“Get out.”, he said in a harsh tone, throwing the dress on the girl almost violently.

 

“Hey!”, she hissed back, getting the piece of fabric out of her face.

 

“I said: **Get. Out.** ”, adding pressure to his voice, letting it rise. His green eyes stared down at the blonde women, not leaving room for a discussion.

 

“Wow geez calm down.”, the girl huffed as she got dressed. She was angry, Max didn’t care. Anything was fine as long as she left. And that fast.

 

All he earned some seconds later was an angry glare and “Stupid Bastard” as the blonde d-cup in the red dress threw the door shut behind her with a loud bang.

 

He took a deep breath.

 

Focusing on that feeling of his expanding lungs as he slowly filled them with air.

 

Letting it out again.

 

Silence.

 

This hassle drew his attention for a moment. But now? Now the silence was coming back to haunt him.  


He just stood there and stared. It was like the void was tying him up, feeding him with the images of his dream from last night he was trying to escape from just a few moments ago.

 

For a second David’s desperate face flashed through his mind again.

 

Max stomach twisted.

 

He wanted to throw up.

 

_Shit..._

 

He clenched his fist.

 

His knuckles started to turn white.

 

His heart rate went down again.

 

Slow and heavy.

 

There it was.

 

The flood.

 

_Move._

 

He told himself.

 

_Move already._

 

But all he could do was standing there, feeling the room shifting around him as the weight of his guilt pinned his feet to the floor. Just like that day he saw this black van leaving Camp Campbell.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hope you guys enjoyed the intro, here's a fitting song for it: 
> 
> 4 AM - Olivver The Kid  
> https://open.spotify.com/track/1Z3tVvYtzrzxFnXf43ityG


	2. eating hooks

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> better late than never, here's the first actual chapter
> 
> i will try to update more frequently, have fun on this wild ride
> 
> special thanks to neriseyk who did the beta on this

Having those panic attacks was nothing new for the young man. They have been a loyal companion those last 9 years and yet he never managed to get used to them.

 

Max had his way to get around them, whether it was pills, something to sniff or something he could smoke. Always depending on which was the first in reach to calm his nerves. Sometimes he even just sat down in the corner of his room and cried it all out until exhaustion hit him.

 

Today was one of the days where he actually managed to grab the joint lying around on his couch table and light it. He didn’t know how he managed to move over to that stained couch but now he was sitting there, hands trembling as he pressed the paper against his lips to take a drag. His feet on the couch, legs pressed against his body, his arms wrapped around them, just a shaking ball of human flesh. Tired eyes were staring, spacing out.

 

Maybe, he thought, maybe he would wake up one day and it was just a huge fucking nightmare. Sometimes physical pain helped him to remind him that he wasn’t dreaming even tho he wished for it too often. It was either that or having the ability to turn back time. Unconsciously the dirty nails of his free hand were digging in the flesh underneath them, adding pressure slowly until he felt something. Wasn’t a dream. Again.  
  
Shit.

 

Max lowered his head and leaned his forehead against his knees. Has it been really nine years now? Fuck man, time was passing so fast. _Too_ fast.

 

If David was still alive?

 

He wondered. Thankfully the raven-haired always made his way around jail until now but he heard things were rough, specially for _that_ accusation. There were pretty nasty things going on in jail and the David he remembered was a fucking delicate flower that even started crying like a baby when he hit his toe on the corner of a piece of furniture. Exactly that David was sitting in. Innocent. Max knew. He knew it all too well and the more he thought about it the more he could feel the guilt crawling up and laying its sharp claws around his throat again. He could feel them pressing against his skin, ready to strike and make him suffocate. He was prepared, his body stiffened under the imagination of the upcoming pain and nausea but right before the guilt managed to take him away, he could feel his body starting to relax.

 

_Finally._

 

Finally time slowed down and things got hazy. His thoughts were breaking away bit by bit. Like a slice of pizza that was eaten by someone. One bite after another. Slowly. The young man’s mind began to wander. Pizza. Pizza wouldn’t be a bad idea actually. After all the last nutrition he got was that sweet puss juice last night. Sadly one’s body wouldn’t run on that only, Max knew. He wouldn’t mind if it would be that way but that was just not the way the universe was rolling and sometimes you had to bow to greater forces.

 

Taking another drag the black-haired leaned back. Inhaling long and deep. Exhaling the same way. He got some really good stuff this time, he had to admit. Maybe mixing it would have been enough than smoking it pure but oh well, who was he to complain. This shit was good and hit hard, that was all that mattered.

 

Browsing around with his eyes Max was searching for his phone. It wasn’t on the table in front of him. That only held on to some empty cans, some small plastic bags and an overflowing ashtray. Letting his body fall over to the side in hopes the different view of the room would help him remember, but it didn’t. The rather slender young man took another drag before he turned from his side on his back slowly. Just staring at the ceiling for a while while letting his lungs expand with smoke. Could be nice sometimes. But not even the ceiling wanted to tell him where his goddamn phone was.

 

Then Max had an idea. Why the fuck didn’t he think about that earlier? Closing his eyes he let his fingertips brush over his forehead. “Yoooo, Honeynuts!”, the tanned guy yelled through the small room. “Did you see my phone?”

 

Silence.

 

Max took another drag before he started groaning, pinching the bridge of his nose with two fingers. “My zipper… of course man.”, he rambled before he tugged the joint between his lips. He reached with both of his hands over his head, slowly. Stretching a little. It must have been here - somewhere. Usually he always took it off and threw it right on the couch when he came home, a habit he developed over the years and paid off a lot when he was searching for that piece of clothing. Mostly drunk or high.

 

After a moment he could feel the worn-out fabric on his fingertips and decided to pull closer. There it was, his good black zipper with a hood that had been a loyal companion the last few years. Max decided to sit up again and take the jolly back in his hand before he was covering himself in ashes. He let his free hand slip in one of the pockets to pull out a small, black smartphone. Screen was a bit damaged. Maybe he should try to snatch one of those fancy new iPhones the next time he is selling shitty stuff to the rich kids on the campus yards. They had way too much money anyway and losing a phone wouldn’t harm them at all.

 

5:24 PM said the clock behind the broken glass. Shit was it really that late already? How long did he sleep anyway? Body light, he put out what was left of his jolly. Slowly leaning back, unlocking his phone. Searching for this weird messenger app. Where did he put it again… ah yeah, there. 3rd page, he should really move that shit to the front page of his phone.

 

Opening up the App, Max thumb moved a little before pressing on a chat log titled “NIK”, next to those three bold letters was a photo of a girl with short green hair. After a moment of hesitation, the black haired started typing.

 

< yo r u up 4 pizza? >

                    5:26 PM

 

Just staring absent on the screen for some minutes he could see how the caption ‘online’ popped up next to the log title and then changed into ‘typing…’

 

NIK

< MAX!!!! totally!! >

5:28 PM

 

NIK

< like? right now?? >

5:28 PM

 

< yeah whenever u have time >

                                    5:28 PM

 

< tell neil 2 pick me up >

                        5:29 PM

 

NIK

< sure thing!! i think he should be done with his nerd stuff now anyway >

5:29 PM

 

Yeah right, Neil sometimes stayed at university until night because unlike him and Nikki he tried to make something out of his life. Max couldn’t help but snort sometimes over how boring this must be, spending all day stuck between books. _Lame_ , he thought as he pushed away the ashtray, still smoking slightly from his badly put out joint. Then again, Neil was always the type who preferred the lame shit over experiencing things.

 

Several minutes later the phone the tanned boy placed on his chest started buzzing again and kept him from dozing off. Message from NIK said the notification on the broken screen. The black haired unlocked the phone to see a picture of a anxious looking guy with brown locks and a blurry shock of green hair in the foreground.

 

NIK

< GOT HIM!! on our way now!! >

5:59 PM

 

< gotcha >

     5:59 PM

 

Putting his phone aside Max slowly stretched a little. He should get up and put some clothes on. Sitting up he could feel how light his body felt, so did his head. The thoughts causing his panic attack were gone and the soon to be company made him forget that it was only a temporary state.

 

Slowly his light feet carried him to the chair next to the mattress on the floor. He reached out for the black t-shirt hanging over the rest of the chair. Feeling the fabric between his fingertips, he pulls it closed to put the piece of clothing over his head while staring into nothingness. He just stood there for a while until his brain delivered the message that she should put pants on and maybe his flannel as well. Good for him the pants were also lying around on the chair, as for the flannel it took him a short moment to scan the flat until he found it. He threw it over the rack next to the small window. A short annoyed sigh left his dry lips, why couldn’t his drunk self just leave a trail of clothes from the couch to the bed like every other decent human being.

 

In a haze he dragged his feet over to the rack. Just when his fingers touched the woven fabric of the flannel he could hear the buzzing of his doorbell. It was one of those disgusting electrical sounding doorbells and if his head wouldn’t have been so clouded right now it would surely have sent this nasty shiver over his back like it always did. He wasn’t paranoid about the police, they were too dumb to track him or his actions back anyway. The doorbell just sounded awful, as if it was in pain every time someone pressed it’s button.

 

With the flannel hanging over his arm, Max crossed his small flat making his way to the door to unlock and open it. In front of him were - as expected - his friends from childhood. A girl smaller than him with short, turquoise hair. Nikki. And a guy taller than him with brown locks. Neil. “HEY!”, the Nikki said cheerfully the second she saw Max. He could see her eyes sparkle in excitement. Right, they haven’t seen each other in a while. The raven haired just raised his hand to symbolize both a short greeting. “Hey, Max.”, Neil said. God, that guy seemed anxious as always. The tanned young man made some space so his friends could enter his flat.

 

In an instant the girl raised her nose and sniffed like a detection dog. “Max!”, she shouted out. “Don’t tell me you smoked without me? Again?!”, she looked at him with a played disappointed look. Max simply shrugged in reply while putting on his flannel. He would have apologized but he wasn’t even sorry. They never made a deal to call each other for a smoke and on top of it, it was an emergency.  

 

“Dude, your flat looks awful”, Neil commented while looking around on the stained walls and the chaos before him. “Why should you care?”, Max answered with a monotone voice while buttoning his shirt. The guy with the brown locks rolled his eyes and sighed. Max hated it when Neil did that, it was none of his fucking business. Yeah they were friend, yeah maybe Neil even cared about him and his “well being” but who the fuck was he. His dad? Nah, surely not. Because if he were then he would let him have his fucking peace and not give a damn shit about any of this.

 

“MAX, WHAT THE HELL IS THAT?”, Neil’s strident voice grabbed Max and Nikki’s attention as he pointed on the couch. His face looked disgusted and a little bit shocked. Green eyes with wide pupils followed the direction of the jew’s finger slowly. Max lips started to form a wide and diabolic grin as he spotted _what_ Neil was pointing at. He walked over to the couch. “I know you’ve probably never seen one outside of biology class but this my friend…”, the raven haired picked up the object and held it right in front of the other man’s face. “Is a condom.” His tall friend was obviously disgusted by the filled and knotted rubber, specially when it was _so_ close to his face. “I KNOW THAT!”, he said, his face flushed a little in embarrassment while the girl behind him couldn’t help but snicker. Max joined in. “Yeah, of course you do. From books.”, he snorted. Picking on Neil was always just way too good. “You’re horrible.”, he mumbled as he scanned the couch for a relatively clean spot to sit on. “Tell me something I don’t already know.”, the tanned one hummed as he threw the condom into the trash bin, pretending it to be a foul shot.

 

Turning around to see his friend sitting down gave him another opening. “Amazing, that’s almost the same spot where I fucked that cheap ass skank last night.”, Max snarled, inspecting the resting location of the brown haired. Neil shoot up in the split of a second. Nikki and Max didn’t know he could move _that_ fast but it was marvelous to look at. The blue eyed gave his tanned friend a glare. “Didn’t you wanna go and get pizza or whatever?” “Yeah, yeah. Give me a sec.”, Max stopped him with a wave of his hand, and turned around to go to the small bathroom in the back of the room.

 

Grabbing some gums from his shelf and putting on some deodorant had to do the trick for now. He could shower later. After all it were _only_ Nikki and Neil he was out with so it didn’t matter anyway. He didn’t dare to look at the mirror, not now when his mind finally managed to be absent from all his misery. Leaving the bathroom he saw his friends having a friendly chatter, when he closed the door he was in the spotlight again. They looked at him waiting for his ‘Go’. Max grabbed his zipper hoodie, checked his pockets for his wallet, keys and… for fuck’s sake where was his damn phone again. He started scanning the room. “Looking for this?”, the girl sitting on the rest of the couch said, holding up a device with broken screen. The slim, tanned man walked over and snatched it out of her hand. “Thanks.”, he said. “Let’s go, I’m starving.”, he added.

 

Hearing those words out of his mouth felt out of place for him, it was just not something he would say - ever. He wasn’t the person who ate lots or yet had much hunger. He blamed the current rebellion of his stomach on the weed. Nikki and Neil didn’t hesitate to follow Max out of his flat. Him asking them to meet was already uncommon. But him asking them to go out for food - even if it was just pizza - was more than unusual. With the time both learned not to ask any questions. They knew whatever it was, Max sure had his reasons. So they just rolled with it.

 

The evening went smooth. They went to a small pizzeria at down the street. Chatted a little. Neil talked about how stressful university and his projects where while Nikki just roamed around that she didn’t know what to do but also didn’t care much. She only went to school when she had nothing else to do, she said. Max just sat there with his shoes on the table,  the milkshake in his hand and listened. It was distracting. Sometimes even nice. After all they didn’t ask him any questions so it was cool. Almost relaxing.

 

But it all came to an end when Nikki started with the sentence “Hey, remember back in camp?”. Immeditalty Max grit his teeth, Neil looked at Nikki with an admonishing look. The raven haired sat up and put his wallet out, placing some notes and coins on the table. “Sorry, I gotta go.”, he said as he got up. “Max-”, Nikki tried to interrupt, her voice sounded more than apologizing. Neil grabbed her shoulder to hold her back, shook his head as a sign to let Max leave. The brown locked knew there was no use in trying to stop him, it was maybe even better his way. Nikki lowered her head and looked at the money on the table as she could hear the bell at the door of the pizzeria ring when their friend left.

 

Walking down the street he pulled the hood of his back zipper deep down in his face. Why now. Why did Nikki had to say this. He knew she was sorry. He knew she didn’t mean it but fuck. She knew that topic was a taboo. Both know. Why now. Why when he was down from his high. Of course listening to those two kept his mind occupied. But apparently it wasn’t meant to be. Maybe this was just a sick twist of fate. Maybe it was what he deserved. To get this dagger pulled back right into his stomach after he desperately tried to pull it out earlier today. Maybe he just wasn’t allowed to just have a good mindless chat from time to time. Maybe he wasn’t allowed to enjoy just one goddamn evening. Maybe he wasn’t allowed any of this. That shit would always come back at him.

 

Always.

 

Always.

 

Always.

 

Max kicked a trash bin over out of frustration. He wanted to yell, to scream, to cry, to throw up. Walking down the street quickly made him feel like fleeing from that monster that was just one step behind him. At least the building holding his shitty one room apartment was in sight. Fast he stepped up the stairs to the second floor, reaching that metal door made it feel like he was just in time before getting swallowed.

 

Nervously he fumbled in his pockets to get his keys out. Entering his flat it didn’t take long for him to grab a bag, pack it and leave again. In his rage everything happened so fast. He walked down the streets with quick steps again, looking for the car he saw the other weeks. It wasn’t moved for month so no one would have missed it anyway. As quick as he found it, he as well wired it - which wasn’t the hardest thing for him to do by now - and drove despite the fact of not having a license with him out into the woods.

 

After half an hour ride he stopped the engine and left the vehicle. He stopped on a small parking lot in the middle of the forest. He turned around and walked some meters down a path that was apparently a road once. The moonlight shining through between the trees was guiding the way. He didn’t know how or why he got there but here he was standing in front of this huge, wooden sign that was old and slightly damaged.

 

The letters on it, barely visible, spelled the words ‘ **CAMP CAMPBELL** ’.

 

Under it, a huge red banner with the word ‘ **CLOSED** ’ written on it in white.

 

_What the fuck?_

 

Max could feel his head spinning. What was he doing here? He appealed to himself to go back, to leave. But he couldn’t.

 

He just stood there.

 

Frozen.

 

Looking at this sign.

 

_What the fucking fuck?_

 

He told himself he was over this. He told himself already the last time he came here - never again. There was nothing left but smudged and half destroyed cabins and a mess hall that was slowly taken back by nature. He knew what this looked like. Too often he came back here just to get a grip for what he caused. This camp that not only himself but also his friends brought a lot of fun was turned into a hideout for wannabe cool kids that wanted to throw parties but couldn’t do it at home because mommy and daddy would scold them. This place looked like a dump and it was all thanks to him.

 

His feet started to move, carried him past the mess hall which had yet another graffiti more on it’s walls all the way down to the counselor cabins. One of them still had parts of yellow barrier tape around them, making it look like a crime scene. Max’s stomach twisted. He could feel the waves coming again. His hands started shaking. What did he think? What the hell did he think by coming here? He could feel how his pulse started racing. The panic attack was coming. And with it the guilt. As quick as he could he turned around and threw his backpack on the floor. Roaming around in it with shaking hands like his life depended on it. _Please were smart enough! Please were smart enough!_ , he repeated in his head over and over again.

 

His body was trembling.

 

His breath was short.

 

He could feel the cold sweat on his forehead.

 

His eyes twitching.

 

Then.

 

_Finally._

 

He found what he was looking for.

 

A small case he had for emergencies.

 

They only contained spliffs but it was better than nothing.

 

Frantic the tanned man tugged one between his lips. Getting the lighter out of his pocket in the split of a second and almost dropping it with the attempt to light the cigarette like object with his trembling hands. He felt like he couldn’t breath so hard was the muscle in his chest beating.

 

It hurt.

 

It made him suffocate.

 

 _God, take the drag already!_ , he told himself.

 

And managed.

 

Sitting on his knees, clinging on the fabric of his zipper his body. Waiting. Begging. After a while his body slowly stopped shaking. With every moment passing it seemed like he calmed down more. He took a breath. A deep, slow breath.

 

In.

 

And out.

 

It felt good being able to breath again. Feeling his lungs expand with oxygen. The weight on his chest was gone. His view started getting hazy. Max looked to the sky, it was a full moon night. Late summer. His gaze fell down, back to his backpack and a light smile was drawn on his lips. Now he remembered why he came here in the first place.

 

Max pushed himself up on his legs, tumbling a bit as he did. He picked the bag up and walked down to the lake, not giving the cabins behind his back any more attention. His mind was set somewhere else.

 

Slowing he dragged his feet down through the dirt and sand the last meters over to the pier. His feet stopped at the edge of that wooden path. He looked at the lake reaching out in front of him. Thanks to the clear night, the moonlight was reflected by the calm surface of the water. It was beautiful. Max used to deny it but David was right.

 

_Nature truly was beautiful._

 

He sat down on the pier, letting his legs dangle just above the water. Slowly he started to unpack his backpack. Pulling out a plush bear that looked very worn out he set it next to himself. He placed the bear so he could face the young man as well as the lake. Also he pulled out two shot glasses made of plastic and a bottle of liquor.

 

“You too?”, he said. Wide pupils looking at the bear with a questioning expression as he poured some liquor in one of the shot glasses. He waited a moment, then hit his forehand with his flat hand to mark his own stupidity and started to laugh. “Yeah right, you’re not old enough, sorry!”, Max wheezed. “Glad to see you’re doing better than me tho.”, he joked as he picked up the glass filled with a transparent liquid and held it up to the sky.

 

“To you.

  


_Cheers_.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> song for this chapter:
> 
> Anemophobia - Deaf Havana  
> https://open.spotify.com/track/3Hhr93r9wjhvsGhmXYccVS?si=Kfo_QpDUQ3ulrIbBFhnMoQ


End file.
